New changes to Skype and the support of third party apps have left many users frustrated, particularly where call recording is concerned. With suggestions that the service isn’t as secure as once thought, could now be the time to start looking for an alternative VoIP call recording service?

Quit Skype? Are You Mad?!

Had you told me 12 months ago that Microsoft was going to disable the Skype desktop API, thus rendering many third-party call recorders useless, I’d have suspected you (or they) were mad. Although a temporary delay has been announced, the writing is clearly on the wall.

Like many people, I use Skype extensively, both as a telephony system (I work from home, and my Office 365 subscription gives me free monthly call credit) and for podcasting with two online colleagues. The best solution for podcasting in this way (and for bringing in someone over the phone) is a call recording app – I use MP3 SkypeCallRecorder.

To find that the technology giant was going to pull its desktop API was just another piece of the crazy world in which Microsoft has decided that desktop computing is obsolete. We basically have to find another way – and given the service’s NSA links, for this user at least the disconnection from Skype isn’t going to be as hard as it might once have been. A previous Skype update left MP3 SkypeCallRecorder unusable for several days – not ideal!

The following suggestions for Skype alternatives with built-in call recording support are intended for Windows users (although cross-platform versions may be available). Note that you should only record calls if it is legal in your area, and with the agreement of the person you’re speaking with.

Growing in popularity as a cross-platform, pan-network chat tool, Jitsi (a 41 MB download) has the added bonus of being able to record calls.

This alone makes it worth a look, but best of all is the fact that you can use your existing Facebook, Google Talk, MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!, AIM or even ICQ account with the service for text chat, saving a lot of time migrating contacts to yet another new chat service.

Perhaps the most flexible alternative to Skype when it comes to recording calls, ooVoo (a 2.4 MB download) supports voice and video call recording and will upload to either an ooVoo server or YouTube.

Like Skype, ooVoo offers free calls within the network for voice and video, while calls to landlines and mobiles will require ooVoo credit. Meanwhile, the service also supports online collaboration with screen sharing for up to 12 recorded video chat users – however this is ad-supported. An ad-free premium option for enterprise users is also available.

A free signup is required, and if you’re concerned about the lack of contacts on this network, don’t worry – you can connect your Facebook account!

Note that if you choose ooVoo, it will attempt to install the Ask.com toolbar and set up a Humnut account, so be vigilant when clicking through the installer!

Or, You Could Stick With Old Versions Of Skype

One alternative you could use is to stick with an old version of Skype, refusing all updates. Opening Tools > Options Advanced > Automatic Updates and clicking Turn off automatic updates is a good way of doing this – but as the window observes, Windows Update may install updates for the application.

Accepting future updates will at some point remove the ability of your current Skype recording app to record and save calls to your computer.

The problem with refusing updates, of course, is that if you’re not the only user of your computer, someone else may permit them. You may prefer to add www.oldversion.com to your favourites, where you can find every version of Skype released – don’t attempt to use any version older than 2.5, however.

For call recorders, you could stick with your existing setup if you’re refusing to install updates, but a good workaround is to find a solution that doesn’t rely on the API. Audacity, for instance, can be used to record calls from Skype, as can Total Recorder.

Great list for those who wants to record calls, but apart from that, there are a lot of alternatives to Skype that most people aren't aware of, I have curated 12 of those and made a list out of it, sharing the link here, check it out, http://thetecnica.com/2014/02/skype-alternatives-2014 I hope this adds value to the post and readers might want to check this list out.

If you are going to use skype for podcasting reasons, just spend a few dollars and get an cheap audio board with a usb connection. It solves all this crap and you have good quality (pending skype's crappy network connection)

... there are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.

My friends use a new app called "seecrypt", it's VOIP and you can use it first year for free by entering the referral code "0000" when registering. I started using it and the quality seems better than Viber and Skype. The thing I liked about it is that you can call from your 3G network and still have a good clear conversation unlike Skype and Viber on my network.

The problem, as always is that so many people use Skype, I have tried and tried to get friends and family to change to Google but they don't plus once it is set up for credit and calling mobiles and landlines it becomes so damn convenient. That's why I see myself using Skype for a while

As soon as I found out Microcrap owned Skype I left the building. Anything that this monster purchases is used for them and them alone and never has the user's best interest in the title. You say they are going to destroy it, I say it was destroyed the day they purchased it!!

Yes, I think oovoo is a nice choice.
And I still like Skype since I have been using it for so many years.
Though it lacks recording function, just use audio recorder to help with it.
There are various kind of voip recorders for choosing.

Yes, I think oovoo is a nice choice.
And I still like Skype since I have been using it for so many years.
Though it lacks recording function, just use audio recorder to help with it.
There are various kind of voip recorders for choosing.